In the middle of Feb. I will be DP'ing my first feature film. I will be providing my personally owned lighting and grip equipment as well as a RED Dragon cam. I will be lighting the scenes,camera operating, and providing directorial advice to the director. Shooting is scheduled for 3-4 weeks. There is a budget for me to be paid an (ok) rate in installments over the course of those 3-4 weeks. The film will be submitted to bigger studios/reps/investors for consideration of being picked up or bought and being produced on a bigger scale with bigger budgets. In the event that our version does actually get picked up, I assume the the producer/production team is compensated for it correct? How exactly does it work? Is it one payment or is it like royalties?

I'm currently typing up a contract that is due in 24 hours to define the terms of work and payments for the project and I want to make sure that if there is backend compensation from getting picked up, that I get covered and receive a piece of that compensation. How should I word this in the contract? Any advice would be greatly appreciated?

deemed Production Company’s Net Profits for purposes of this Agreement.

Take what you will from it. With contracts, however, remember that they're only as good as the people signing it. You can use it in a court of law, but often times it's not worth the money and time for a legal battle.

I HIGHLY recommend you hire a lawyer to draft a contract. I understand the rush in your situation, but if the production wants you then they can wait.

Note that one of the lines can be used against me: All ongoing and unpaid operating expenses of the Production Company. I missed this part when I first signed, but went with the project anyways with the understanding that:

For low budget films, it's unrealistic to expect any money from the back end. They usually break even with their revenue and the production company has far more expenses left uncovered from post that will prevent any income to reach you. It's the same with the income from distributors to the production company.

I mean, generally cinematographers don't get back end on smaller projects, it's only bigger one's with decent distribution deals set already. I've never heard of someone trying to get back end money from a small indy film as one of the "crew" members. This is why I generally co-produce or "associate" produce the films I work on. It's more work, but heck, you're already doing the work, so why not get the credit? As an associate producer, you have the rights to get back end money.

Contracts are also nice, but they're also worthless on smaller projects as well. Who is going to fight for your 1%? Are you going to pay for lawyer? Are you going to sue the producers to get your money? Or are you going to work on the next job and forget it ever happened. Remember, if you sue ANYONE... you will never work with them or anyone they know again. This is why I hate contracts on low-budget stuff, it's why I refuse to work on a shoot that requires them. If the producers are going to screw you, they will screw you no matter what. The moment you pay for a lawyer, is the moment you're no longer making money.

Sure, if you're working on a studio show, yea... get a contract, the studio will settle out of court. But low-budget filmmakers don't have the capitol to deal with that stuff. So you can sue them all you want, there isn't anything to be had in most cases.